Community assembly in epiphytic lichens in early stages of colonization.

Colonization studies may function as natural experiments and have the potential of addressing important questions about community assembly. We studied colonization for a guild of epiphytic lichens in a former treeless heathland area of 170 km2 in southwest Norway. We investigated if epiphytic lichen species richness and composition on aspen (Populus tremula) trees corresponded to a random draw of lichen individuals from the regional species pool.

Genetic variation and population differentiation in the lichen-forming ascomycete Xanthoria parietina on the island Storfosna, central Norway.

Genetic diversity and fine-scale population structure in the lichen-forming ascomycete Xanthoria parietina was investigated using sequence variation in part of the intergenic spacer (IGS) and the complete internal transcribed spacer (ITS) regions of the nuclear ribosomal DNA. Sampling included 213 and 225 individuals, respectively, from seven populations in two different habitats, bark and rock, on the island Storfosna off the central west coast of Norway. Both markers revealed significant variation and a total of 10 IGS and 16 ITS haplotypes were found.

Molecular evidence supports the distinction between Xanthoria parietina and X. aureola (Teloschistaceae, lichenized Ascomycota).

This study aims to clarify taxonomic relationships within the current concept of Xanthoria parietina in northern Europe. For comparison, X. calcicola was also included in the study.

Studies on the development of a microencapsulated delivery system for norbormide, a species-specific acute rodenticide.

Norbormide, a selective rat toxicant, was microencapsulated to both mask the flavour and delay the release until after a lethal dose has been ingested by the rat. To this end, gelatine microspheres containing norbormide were made and over coated with either shellac resin or an equal mixture of shellac and Eudragit RS in a fluid-bed coating machine. The microcapsules absorb water, swell and burst to release their contents.